


A Cry in the Night

by janai



Series: The Meta-Crisis Victorious Saga [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Denial, F/M, Heavy Angst, Revelations, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26707681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janai/pseuds/janai
Summary: Pain and visions in a dream drive the Doctor over the edge and he begins to discover the true powers of his metamorphosis. He discovers one of the reasons for why he is changing.
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor & Rose Tyler
Series: The Meta-Crisis Victorious Saga [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849006
Comments: 12
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> KABOOM!  
> BTW, there is one Easter Egg that nods to Last Gift From an Old Mentor.

Explosions, lightning, thunder, flames! Images of a pink, orange and yellow nebula, a baby cradled in an arm, two hearts beating, swirls of artron energy and the vortex. A small ornate box engraved with Gallifreyen writing holding a lusterless gem, a bicycle flying through the air, the howling of a wolf. Lust and love, the whisper of skin on skin. Hundreds of tiny colored flecks of energy swirling around the TARDIS as it exploded. Standing in the eye of a time hurricane, death, destruction and hatred!

All these images and more swirled quickly through the sleeping brain of an evolving alien-human hybrid. Some were out of focus, some so fleeting as to be imaged and some clear as a cloudless sky. The visions-in-a-dream tormented the sleeper as he writhed, moaning, 

The Doctor sat up abruptly on the couch where he had fallen asleep in the library of the TARDIS; he felt like he was burning up! Pain in his chest and a pounding headache clouded his senses and he had but one thought. RUN! He flew off the couch as if bitten by Hounds of Hell and fled from the library. He raced through the console room and snapped his fingers; the doors to the TARDIS flew open and he staggered out into the dark.

The Doctor almost flew down a winding path that passed briefly through a copse of trees and led to a large, ice encrusted pond. He leapt over the thicker ice at the shore and plunged though the thin layer of ice at the surface. He ignored the stinging scratches where the razor edges of the frozen water nicked his skin. With a groan of pain, he neatly dove though the skim of ice and plunged down through the depths. He swam to the bottom and followed it downwards as it deepened. Further and further he went, ears popping, until he settled on the bottom at the deepest part of the lake. The frigid water wrapped around his body provided blessed relief from the heat in his core. As he floated slightly above the pebble bottom, he realized that he was not starving from lack of oxygen. With a start he realized that his respiratory bypass had engaged.... _wait... I lost that ability after the meta-Crisis._

The Doctor pushed off the bottom and swam quickly to the surface to emerge like a whale breaching. Sucking in a fresh breath of cold air, he twisted until he was floating on his back and stared upwards at the night sky. His chest and head still hurt but at least his body had cooled down significantly.

The moon was large and full, but he could still see the twinkle and colors of the stars. Normally he found the view to be very soothing but tonight it made him think of something, no someone!

The vault in his mind of repressed anger exploded and consumed him. With a feral snarl, he flipped over to swim back to the shore where he had started. When he reached the shallows, he stood up, the water sluicing off his very lean body. The full moon back-lit the edges of his physique and colored the water silver.

The Oncoming Storm raged through his body as he dropped to his knees in the shallows. As the anger and hatred built up in his soul, the thin ice around his body melted. The surface of the water began to vibrate as his eyes turned golden. His fists were clenched at his sides and he started sucking in deep lungfuls of air. The water began to shoot up around him as if a giant drum was being pounded under the surface. The Doctor brought his fists up to his sides as he threw his head backwards and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!' he roared to the heavens. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?? CAN'T YOU JUST DIE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!" The last came out as a strangled sob yet he was not finished .

"DAMN YOU TO HELL!!"

The Doctor fell forwards, exhausted, to land onto his hands with a splash; the water ceased its roiling, the ripples flowing around the pond to lap at the shoreline. Dropping back onto his haunches, he brought mud caked fingertips up to run down his face. The ocher colored mud left trails down his skin, very much like warpaint.

"DOCTOR!!"

Raising his head, he saw Rose running down the path with what looked like a blanket in the crook of one arm. She was wearing a thick jacket, unzipped, and her flannel jim-jams; her feet were bare.

"Rose," he whispered in a hoarse voice. Drawing on the last of his strength he crawled to his feet, legs shaking. He stumbled like a newborn foal out of the water reaching dry land as she ran up and shook his robe out.

Her face was a mask of fear as she flipped the warm garment around his shaking body and hugged him tightly. He reached his arms around her body to give her a fierce hug he slowly dropped down to the crisp ground. She went with him and pulled his upper body onto her lap.

"My Doctor," she whispered brokenly, "I felt ya burning, I felt your anger. I was runnin' to you an felt...an felt like a hand was pushin' me back. Your were screaming and cursing"

The Doctor nestled his head into the crook of her shoulder and shuddered violently. "I know," his voice was a faint whisper, "I'm so sorry to wake you up. I',m glad we left Bonnie with your mum." His voice was harsh from vocal cords strained too much.

She kissed his partially frozen hair and tugged the hood of the robe up to drape over the pointed strands.

"What 'appened?" she murmured, hoping he would tell her without trying to change the subject. He was way more open than the other Doctor but at times it was one deflection after another. Especially with recent events.

  
"Him," he murmured in a flat voice. "Him. He changed into something...an abomination. Someone so feared by all Time Lords that it was an instant death sentience if found out. Very few Time Lords achieved the feat and mostly during the old days."

Rose thought her heart was going to explode in her chest at the thought of her other Time Lord. She had made peace with herself long ago where he was concerned and she had the Doctor who could give her everything he couldn't. She loved her husband fiercely and the thought of the Time Lord having done something to affect him like this.... Anger bloomed in her heart and soul and her Doctor nodded gratefully. Her complete dedication and love for him soothed any hurt that he had felt after they had been left behind in the parallel universe.

"What did he do to you, what did he become?" she whispered fiercely.

"I felt it in the water, I think l think I may have connected to him. A bit. Enough to know what he had become and that ability must have lain dormant in my brain. The dream nightmare was the start, I think. But it's different for me being a human Time Lord Meta -Crisis."

"Rose, you know my Time Lord abilities are coming back; time control and sense, visions and now my respiratory bypass. I lost those when I when I became me." He sagged against her, eyes closing as she began to gently rub his back. "But there are other things...complications, I think, because of who I am."

Rose was terrified and frustrated now by his babbling. What did her old Doctor become? Something so terrible that another Time Lord would kill him without a second thought? Whatever was happening was out of his control and, thus, hers.

"Doctor, tell me!"

She felt him twitch in her arms, felt the fear and resignation in his soul. He was exhausted by his outburst and he struggled to keep from sliding down her body.

"Time Lord," he mumbled, his heart breaking. "I am becoming a Time Lord again....less human...I can feel it." He felt tears running down his face and he was terrified. Terrified that she would run away with his precious daughter in fear and loathing. His heart was pounding so hard that he could feel his body twitch to its beat.

Rose could feel the drumming of his heart, felt his emotions and reached up to tenderly touch his chin.

"Tell me please; I promise I won't be ashamed, won't leave you. We meant forever, in sickness and in health until death. Please tell me." Her eyes were glassy as tears formed and spilled down her checks.

The Doctor was silent so long that she was afraid he wouldn't say anything more. Her heart was pounding and her fear pulsed through their bond in.waves. He sighed once in resignation before speaking.

"Time Lord Victorious," he whispered in a broken voice. He closed his eyes as he awaited her condemnation.

To be continued.....


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, somewhere in time and space in the prime universe...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special guest star!  
> This was short and to the point. I wanted to tag the multi-platform Time Lord Victorious which inspired me.

The 10th incarnation of the Time Lord known as The Doctor strode purposely across the rocky terrain. The expression on his face was grim and he was clearly on a mission; his pinstripe suit and Chucks were dusty and his coat billowed out behind him. The last thing he expected was to be sucker-punched in the brain.

_WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!_

The mental blow was so powerful that it knocked the unprepared Doctor down onto the dusty surface of the rock. He immediately grabbed at his head, certain that it was about to explode from within. Writhing on the ground from the pain, the Doctor, again, was not prepared as the next wave slammed into his mind.

_WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!! CAN'T YOU JUST DIE AND LEAVE ME ALONE??!!_

The anger and hatred stabbed into his brain like white hot pokers fresh from the fire and he desperately tried to protect himself. He knew that voice, would know it anywhere in time as space. It was Him and something terrible was taking place.

_DAMN YOU TO HELL!!_

"AAARRGGHH!" he screamed out in agony as tears leaked out of his tightly shut eyes. "I'M SORRY!" he cried back.

Then a silence which seemed to echo in his ears.

As the Doctor tried to unscramble his brain, his first coherent thought was for his beloved Rose. Was she o.k? Did something terrible happen to her? Wincing, he examined the agonist words which had reduced him to a groveling idiot. The tone, the inflections, the feelings; a spit second later he felt a wave of relief. There was no indication of Rose-ness connected to the agonized cry! So, what was happening to the other Doctor?

The Doctor was able to push up enough off the ground so that he could sit up; his trembling hands gently rubbing his aching head. How was it possible for his other self to breach through to the prime universe? The power that he felt had been off the scale! It had to be a tiny crack in the Void otherwise he was certain that the Meta-Crisis would have found him on the planet he was on. _And probably rip me to shreds._

_What did I do...he's blaming me for doing something that affected him?_

His still addled brain tried to think back to to that very painful and horrible day when he had given up the love of his lives to his part-human self. Left them together in the alternate universe and had fled at the sight of the couple sharing a desperate snog. He remembered clenching his jaw and swallowing hard; _that should have been me kissing her._ His breath caught in his throat at a terrible thought, had he finally become the battle-born Meta-Crisis filled with blood lust anger and vengeance? He had originally said that in order to convince Rose to stay and be there for his twin. The new. new, new Doctor had committed genocide....just as he, himself, had done before.. but he knew that she would be safer with his double in the long run.

"I'm sorry, so sorry," he moaned out loud, "I can't help you, not now or ever." He pictured his beautiful Rose and his hearts clenched in fresh pain. "Rose, be strong for him, he needs you now ore than ever. I wish I could be there but I can't, I have my own issues to deal with now."

The Doctor wiped the last of the drying tears off his face leaving thin smears of ocher on his face, like unlike warpaint. His brow furled and the dark look of the Oncoming Storm was in his eyes.

"But if I find out that you hurt or killed Rose, Doctor, I will break the barrier between the multi-verses and come for you." His voice was a growl and he carefully crawled to his feet.

He was still a bit shaky as he dusted his suit off and stared up at the reddish sky. With great effort he was able to push all thoughts of what just happened to a vault deep within his great Time Lord brain. He had work to do and he had to stay focused.

With firm resolve,the incident now locked away, he strode forwards with purpose as he continued to walk down his own dark path.

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, the Doctor opens up to Rose.

**Author's Note:**

> There are no pictures of DT running naked through the woods. Or in the water. But I did find a picture that matched the scenery. :>))  
> Picture the Doctor as a dark silhouette walking in front of the moon's light.  
> More answers to questions from my beloved readers will be revealed in the next installment.


End file.
